PSYCH 108S:Introduction to Social Psychology

This course aims to blend a comprehensive overview of social psychology with in-depth lectures exploring the history of the field, reviewing major findings and highlighting areas of current research. The course will focus on classic studies that have profoundly changed our understanding of human nature and social interaction, and, in turn, have triggered significant paradigm shifts within the field. Some of the topics covered in this class will include: individuals and groups, conformity and obedience, attraction, intergroup relations, and judgment and decision-making. The course, overall, will attempt to foster interest in social psychology as well as scientific curiosity in a fun, supportive and intellectually stimulating environment.

PSYCH 115S:Personality Psychology

This course will focus on current empirical and theoretical approaches to personality. Lectures will be organized around the following questions central to personality research: How and why do people differ? How do we measure individual differences? Does personality change over time? How does personality interact with sociocultural factors to influence behavior? What makes people happy? What are the physical, mental, and social consequences of personalities?

PSYCH 136S:Learning and Memory: Theory and Applications

Introduction to learning and memory, including the ways that our past influences our present through multiple memory systems, the ways in which memory not only can succeed but also can fail, and how memory integrity changes across the lifespan and across clinical populations. Special emphasis on applications of theoretical content to the real world technologies, policies, and diseases that touch our everyday lives.

PSYCH 101S:Introduction to Neuroscience

Introduction to structure and function of the nervous system. The course first surveys neuroscience research methods, physiology, and gross anatomy. We then study the brain systems which produce basic functions such as perception and motion, as well as complex processes like sleep, memory, and emotion. Finally, we examine these principles in cases of neurological and psychiatric disorders.

PSYCH 104S:Affective Science

This course will provide an introduction to a growing field known as affective science, which focuses on the study of emotion and other related phenomena (i.e., motivation, pain, etc.). We will explore core questions in affective science, including: 1) What is emotion and why is it useful? 2) How do emotions influence the way we perceive, attend to, and understand the world? 3) How do emotions become dysfunctional, and how can individuals control them? We will attempt to approach these questions from multiple perspectives, including i) neurobiological ii) behavioral, and iii) sociocultural perspectives.

PSYCH 105S:General Psychology

In what ways does the scientific study of psychology increase our understanding of the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors we observe and experience in everyday life? What are the main areas of psychology and the different questions they seek to answer? This course will give you an introduction to the field of psychology and its many different areas. You will learn about the central methods, findings, and unanswered questions of these areas, as well as how to interpret and critically evaluate research findings.

PSYCH 113S:Developmental Psychology

This class will introduce students to the basic principles of developmental psychology. As well as providing a more classic general overview, we will also look towards current methods and findings. Students will gain an appreciation of how developmental psychology as a science can be applied to their general understanding of children and the complicated process of growing into adults.

PSYCH 125S:Language andThought

How are we able to produce and comprehend language in all its complexity? How does language processing interact with other parts of cognition? In this course, we will focus on several main themes: language production and comprehension, discourse, language acquisition, bilingualism, and linguistic relativity. We will explore these themes through lecture, demonstrations, analysis of empirical work, and student-led discussion. Special attention will also be given to the various experimental methods we use to conduct psycholinguistic and developmental research (e.g., self-paced reading, eye-tracking, cross-modal priming, and neural imaging).

PSYCH 138S:Motivation to Learn

Why do some students delight at the thought of challenging tasks while others only care about getting the grade? Why do some seek out opportunities to learn in and out of school while others feel anxious just showing up to class? Why do our failures sometimes debilitate and other times invigorate? How do we turn our desires to achieve into concrete action? Where do these motivational processes come from and how might we use our understanding of motivation to improve educational systems? This course will address these and other fascinating questions as we consider theory and research on motivation, primarily as it applies to educational contexts. The course will be based largely around interactive discussions of primary source articles, with some lecture in order to provide you with important background information and a framework for discussing the readings.